Schatz stays ahead of World of Outlaws pack

Courtesy Photo | Jimmy JonesDonny Schatz has won the last three World of Outlaws points championships.

The bullseye on the back of Donny Schatz's orange-and-black ArmorAll firesuit continues to grow bigger each year.

When you are driving away in a cloud of dust and dirt at 140 mph, though, it's still a difficult target to nail, no matter how big it gets.

Schatz, of Fargo, N.D., is the three-time defending World of Outlaws champion, and he is back on top of the point standings as the circuit returns to the I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa Saturday night.

The series will first visit Attica Raceway in Attica, Ohio, on Friday, and Schatz has a 53-point lead over 20-time WoO champion Steve Kinser.

The field has taken its best shots at Schatz through 21 races. Kinser has recorded 18 top-10 finishes. Joey Saldana has a series high seven victories. And yet, Schatz continues to make like the Roadrunner and elude the hunters.

"It's a long year, but we have a good jump on it right now," Schatz said. "You just have to put yourself in a good position every night because it gets harder every day. There is zero room for error. We have to make no mistakes with the race car."

Donny Schatz

Schatz, 31, enters this weekend's action with six victories this season, and it marks his second season of driving the No. 15 car for two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart. His 94 careers victories ranks him fifth all time on the Outlaws' victory list.

North Dakota is hardly considered a hotbed for sprint racing. Rosters from any of the major sprint car sanctioning bodies reveals drivers from towns across Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Minnesota.

Still, Schatz made it to the big time. He is a second-generation driver who emerged on the Outlaws' scene in 1997 and earned the circuit's Rookie of the Year honors.

"Being from North Dakota didn't hold me back," Schatz said. "I raced at a young age, and I did what I had to learn to get in it. It was something that doesn't happen over night, and without my family and their influence, I wouldn't be anywhere near the success I am at today.

"I had to drive a long ways to the races. But there is a nice quarter-mile track about 70 miles from where I grew up, and there is a big half-mile in Fargo."

Schatz is just the second driver in Outlaws history to win at least three consecutive championships, joining Steve Kinser. The circuit dates back to 1980.

While the victories and titles pile up, Schatz said racing is just as fun nowadays as it was when he started.

"There isn't any pressure," Schatz said. "It's a pleasure, that's what it is. Obviously, we all want to be on top of your game, and I have already done everything I wanted to do. The pressure is long gone."

Schatz will be making his seventh I-96 appearance, with his best finish coming a year ago when he took second to Kinser.

Action begins with hot laps and qualifying at 6 p.m., followed by racing at 7:30 p.m.